Out of State Resident, Residing in KY

The couple that resides across the street from my place of business have been awakened 3 consecutive nights (sat. sun. mon.) by someone at the back door of their home. The inside dog barks, the potential intruder runs to his car which is parked in my parking lot, the resident awakes and catches a glimpse of the dark car speeding off. He has notified law enforcement. Yesterday the neighbor asked if he could park his autos behind my business to make it appear he was'nt home. Without really thinking, I gave the OK. Today, he told me that the dark car showed up in my lot and sat for about 2 minutes and sped off. Now today my neighbor asked me a question that I really didn't know the answer and so I ask for help. He informes me that his residence is in Ohio and he stays over here (in KY) with his girlfriend on a regular basis. He wants to know what HIS rights are when he is in HER home regarding protection for them. I told him that I thought he was justified to protect them and I explained the Castle Doctrine to him but still, HE is NOT the property owner, SHE is. INPUT PLEASE...........

Common sense dictates that if the house is broken into the guy has the inherant right to self-preservation.

My simple, nonprofessional opinion: I think that even if she wasn't in the house and he had permission to be there that he could exercise appropriate self/home defense. I think the case is further justified if she is present and aware of the situation. It would be my opinion that he would be acting on behalf/permission of the homeowner. Remember, in KY, it's assume that if a person is actively breaking into a residence, it is automatically assumed that the individual has ill-intent and can be dealt with.

Don't know if Ky has specific rules for possessing a firearm (handgun, apparently in this case) in the dwelling of another, but once that hurdle is cleared there should be no real problems. Defense of self and/or of innocent others when in fear of iminent serious bodily injury or death (or however the Ky law states the circumstances) is pretty clear-cut.

This http://www.lrc.ky.gov/KRS/503-00/CHAPTER.HTM seems to pretty much cover the exact law(s) regarding the use of defensive force, including lethal force. My persusal did not find anything that limited the law to a resident of Ky, or excluded a resident of another state who found themself in Ky when the need to defend themself arose.

If you are not comfortable interpreting the law for yourself, the money spent sitting down with either an atorney or someone who teaches CCW classes will be well spent.

I am curious - why are these folks not calling the cops when this happens? Or did I misinterpret your comment re: "notifying law enforcement"?

stay safe.

Thanks Skidmark, it's my understanding that they called 911 when first & second incident happened but perp was long gone when Sheriff Dpty arrived. I did tell him that it's of the upmost importance to call 911 on each event to establish a trail of contact in the event of the worst.

I have to agree, if she allows him to stay there, be in the house and someone comes around and breaks into the house, he can defend them both. Kentucky is a Castle Domain and a No Retreat state. If this issue has been 3 days running, then they could request unmarked to be in the area. Additionally, if they have a good camera, they could attempt to photograph the vehicle with the intention of getting a photo of the plates! This is also cause the individual to serious think twice, they might not understand the photo at first but trust me the "bad guy" will be eaten up trying to figure that one out and then it will occur to them that their plate has been photographed. Granted, this IS NOT a solution to the issue, just an idea to get the plate number for LEO to look into.